A History of God’s Blessing at Abiding Word

      Abiding Word held its first church service at 2:00PM on September 14, 1969 at Bammel Elementary School , just north of our present church building. Pastor Vilas Glaeske from Christ the Lord congregation near Kirkwood and Bellaire led the worship services and encouraged the first families, the Earl Hildebrandts, the Elmer Schoessows and the Lynn Kruegers. They started with only 10-12 in attendance for the first months. Late in the fall of that first year, Karen, the infant daughter of Mr.& Mrs. Lynn Krueger, was the first baptism in this new little congregation. 

      Mission status was granted in early 1970 and in June of that year Pastor William Gabb was called to be the first resident pastor of this fledgling group. They found an old farmhouse on Spring-Stuebner Rd. to use as the first parsonage for Pastor, Beth and their family. Their living room became a place of worship for special occasions such as Thanksgiving and Christmas and at other times a meeting room as the congregation began to take shape. 

       After buying 4 acres of land on Red Oak Dr. in February of 1971, they began worshipping in a double wide relocatable chapel. No more carrying all of the necessities for worship from home every week; no more setting up chairs and moving pianos before services could begin! Canvassing the neighborhood was paying off as the number of families who regularly attended worship slowly increased. 

     In April, 1972 a new parsonage was completed on the Red Oak property and a dedication service was held on July 23. In June Abiding Word had its first wedding – Al Hahn and Barbara Hildebrandt. 

      Ground breaking for a permanent worship facility and education wing took place on December 31, 1972. The congregation acted as its own contractor and put in many hours of donated labor before dedicating the worship building on June 24, 1973. 
 

      Christian education was close to the heart of the members of Abiding Word and this led them to establish a Lutheran elementary school. They began classes with a total of 19 children in grades K-5 in the fall of 1973. The first teachers were Miss Virginia Frey and Mrs. Gay Weisbach. On June 3, 1973 there was another first: Edward Baumgartner, Rick Carter, Steve Hildebrandt and Michael Horn publicly confessed their faith as they were confirmed.   
 

      A two-story, 6,000 square foot addition to the school, again constructed with volunteer labor, was dedicated in 1979. Fifteen years passed before the congregation outgrew their facilities. December, 1994 saw groundbreaking for a new sanctuary, a beautiful worship facility dedicated in July of 1995. 
 

      Moving worship services into the new sanctuary allowed the original building to be remodeled into a preschool center. The preschool was opened in the fall of 1994 with Chris Gallipeau (Luecke) as director.

      As the number of students in the elementary school increased, additional facilities were sorely needed. The current Christian Life Center and School was dedicated during Abiding Word’s 30^th anniversary celebration service on September 10, 2000. 

The Pastors and Teachers of Abiding Word

      Pastor Gabb was the first resident pastor and he and his wife, Beth, remained at Abiding Word until 1977. After an extended vacancy, Abiding Word was assigned a new seminary graduate, Roger Plath in the summer of 1978. Pastor Plath and his wife Becky stayed with the congregation for three years before leaving Abiding Word in 1981. Pastor Stephen Valleskey came to Abiding Word in January of 1982. He and his wife Sally remain a vital part of the Abiding Word family. 
 

      Over the years, Abiding Word has been blessed with many faithful and dedicated pastors and teachers. Besides Pastors Gabb, Plath and Valleskey, they have also been blessed with the work of Pastors Steve Dorn (1995-1999), David Rau (2000-2006) and Adam Seelow (2006 to 2008). 

       The first principal of the school was Jim Moeller (1976–81). He was succeeded by John Lange (1981-91), Gary Gray (1991-94), Brad Nommensen (1994-2002), Pastor Rau (2002-4) and Josh Bauer (2004-5). Shawn Herkstoeter has been the principal since 2005.  The first preschool director was Chris Gallipeau (Luecke) (1994- 2000). Lori Soloviyov was the director from 2000 - 2005 and Kayte Gut from 2005-2009. In 2008 we added an Associate Preschool Director, Brian Schultz and he has served as director since the summer of 2009.